Vancouver, British Columbia — Gavin and Sowan were friends when they were killed just six weeks apart in 1988.
Gavin was last seen alive just before midnight on August 12, 1988, when she left a friend's apartment near Broadway and St. Catherine's Street, in East Vancouver. A sex-worker who struggled with addiction, Gavin told her friend she was going to work and would be back in an hour. She never returned, and her partially clothed body was discovered hours later in a lane near Knight Street and East 49th Avenue.
Sowan, also a sex worker, was just 25 years old when last seen, on September 29, 1988, inside an apartment near East 6th Avenue and St. George Street. She'd been struggling with the loss of Gavin, and went out sometime between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Her body was discovered the following day in some bushes near West 24th Avenue and Willow Street.
Vancouver police have added these cases to their cold case website, as they renew an appeal for tips into their 34-year-old murders which took place just weeks apart.
"No homicide case is ever closed until it's solved, and we know there's someone out there with information that can help solve these two murders," Sgt. Steve Addison said in a media release.
VPD's Cold Cases website was created in 2014, and it currently includes profiles of 15 unsolved murders, dating back to 1958. For more details about the murders of Lisa Gavin and Glenna Sowan, including photos, maps and news clippings, visit www.vpdcoldcases.ca
